Timeless
by imaginaryinkwell
Summary: A semi-short two-shot on my take of a sort of soulmate AU. In which Percy isn't at all sure the Countdown could be all the right, and Annabeth never wanted it in the first place. OR the one where Percy is just looking for someone to love and Annabeth thinks she's already found that someone.
1. Chapter 1

_10 Years, 5 Months, 3 Weeks, 4 Days, 19 Minutes, 21 Seconds_

I stare at the numbers glowing faintly on my wrist, gazing in wonder at how the screen flowed so smoothly with the skin in which it was embedded. _Only ten-and-a-half years_. It seemed like such a long time, but I understood that I was lucky to have such a short time. Most people began with at least twenty years on their countdown.

I studied the screen implant, seeing only the countdown and the name of the manufacturer: _Eros Enterprises, _which was inscribed in the lower left corner of the monitor. I had just gotten the surgery today, and already the pain in my arm was leaving.

Every six-year-old had the option to receive the implant, and after much consideration, I decided I'd go for it. After all, who wouldn't want a watch that counted down to the very second they met their soulmate?

"Percy, it's time for bed!" I sigh as I hear my mom yelling from downstairs. I always have to go to bed early.

"But mom!" I yell back, not quite ready to go to sleep.

"No buts! Go to sleep!" She quickly responds, not in the mood for any tomfoolery.

I sigh and give in, knowing it's useless to argue. I slip into my _Spiderman _pajamas and climb into my bed, taking one last look at my watch, knowing that somewhere out there, there was someone that saw the same numbers glowing back at them.

_8 Years, 3 Months, 2 Weeks, 3 Days, 49 Minutes, 56 Seconds_

"Whatya think she'll be like?" I whisper to my best friend Grover.

"Probably a crazy, if she's your soulmate," He says grinning at me in the darkness of room, only the soft glow of my night-light illuminating his face.

"Hey!" I whisper-yell as I punch him in the arm. "I'm serious!"

"Ouch!" He says, rubbing his arm. "How would I know, anyway?"

"At least tell me what it's like when you finally meet her," I say, whispering the word "her" with wonder. Grover had met his soulmate around six months ago, and had never really told me what it was like. He was lucky to have such a short timer.

Grover pauses, as if thinking, before he responds. "It's the best feeling in the world! Time feels like it stops, and then everything in your life just seems to get better."

"Wow," I say with envy. "It's so unfair that you had such a short timer! I wish I had already met my soulmate."

"Tough luck, Perce, we can't all be as awesome as I am," he says cockily, earning him another punch in the arm. Ever since I had gotten my monitor, not a day had gone by without me thinking of what she would be like.

"How's Juniper doing anyway?" I say, knowing that the mention of his soulmate would move our conversation along.

"She's… okay." He says, blushing. "We talk a lot, and we even walk to school together sometimes! She's so cool!" As he continues rambling, I look down at my own monitor, watching the seconds tick by, already ready anxious for the moment those numbers would reach zero.

_4 Years, 5 Months, 3 Weeks, 4 Days, 11 Minutes, 29 Seconds_

Today was my twelfth birthday, and my patience still hadn't gotten any better. In fact, with each day that passed, it's gotten worse. Every waking minute of my life has been spent worrying about everything, whether or not she'll be smart, pretty, or kind. Part of me worries she'll be a jerk, but then I remember that we're soulmates, so no matter what happens, I'll love her.

We went over the topic of the "Soulmate Stopwatch" in class today. Our teacher, Ms. Dodds started crying in the middle of the lesson, and no one could figure out why. That is, until she explained the dark side to these monitors. She told us the story of the one morning she woke up to find a black screen where her countdown should have been, and how it broke her heart. She told us that if the screens went dark, it meant that our soulmate was gone, and that we'd never get to meet them.

She also talked of the people that missed their soulmates. The watches only counted down once, and if you missed the moment, it'd be impossible to find them. She told stories of old friends and family that had missed theirs, because of simple things such as stopping to tie your shoelace or missing a bus. After that, my shoelaces were always tied, and I was always on time.

_1 Year, 8 Months, 3 Weeks, 1 Day, 38 Minutes, 1 Second_

I hate my watch. All it ever did was mess with my life, and it made me anxious and stressed over someone I didn't even know yet. It was stupid and pointless, but once you get the dumb thing it won't come off until it hits zero.

I guess part of this rant is because I met a girl at school today. Her name was Rachel, and she was quite possibly the most beautiful and interesting girl I had ever seen. I may or may not have a SMALL crush on her, but it doesn't matter anyway. These stupid watches made sure of that.

_1 Year, 1 Month, 3 Weeks, 4 Days, 41 Minutes, 51 Seconds_

Rachel met her soulmate today. I knew this was coming, but I still let my attraction for her grow. I was planning on telling her about my feelings, but then she met him, and just seemed so happy. I stayed back and let her have her moment, knowing that it was now back to just me and my countdown, ticking away the seconds until I met some girl that would "change my life".

Grover and Juniper also started dating today, which I thought was sorta stupid considering that they already knew they were a match made in heaven. Nowadays, more and more people are meeting their soulmate earlier, and it turns out I was wrong about having a short timer compared to others. It seems that I'm the only one without someone to be with these days.

_0 Years, 5 Months, 1 Week, 2 Days, 142 Minutes, 13 Seconds_

"I see your timer's almost up, huh Perce? Ready to meet that 'Special Girl'" asks Grover, smirking at me.

I blush before responding. "I guess… I can't believe I'm already this close, it feels like just yesterday when I got the implant." I may have gotten over my hate for the little screen that was embedded in the underside of my forearm, and I'll admit I'm pretty excited.

"Just yesterday? C'mon man, that was like nine years ago! We didn't even know each other then!"

"I know, I know, I just can't believe time has flown by so quickly."

"I guess that makes sense. Hey man, sorry, but I gotta go, Juniper told me to meet up with her in a couple minutes. See you around?"

"You know it." I watch him leave with a smile, knowing that that will be me in just a couple months.

_0 Years, 0 Months, 2 Weeks, 3 Days, 232 Minutes, 12 Seconds_

I'm so close I can feel it. The anticipation is so intense; it's almost impossible to think about anything else. Everyone else sees this and offer knowing glances, even total strangers I see on the bus smile at me when they see my monitor. Not an hour goes by that I don't check my countdown, just in case it goes black and I have to experience the worst.

_0_ _Years, 0 Months, 1 Week, 0 Days, 198 Minutes, 29 Seconds_

"Only one week I see," says my English teacher, Mr. Blofis as he grins.

"Yeah! I can't wait!" I say, surprised at my own enthusiasm. I usually don't talk to teachers, but I'm feeling more and more giddy the closer I get.

Mr. Blofis smiles knowingly and rubs the small part of his forearm where his watch used to be, before turning to me and smirking. "Just make sure this doesn't get in the way of your classwork, okay?"

"You got it Mr. Blofis!" I respond, laughing at his expected "teacher" response.

_O Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 123 Minutes, 18 Seconds._

"Dang man, you're almost there, you ready?" asks Grover, slinging his arm around my shoulder and grinning.

"I really don't know! I mean what if she doesn't like me, or what if I don't like her? Or what if-"

"Dude, just calm down. I'm sure everything will turn out just fine. Just be yourself, alright man? I mean if I'm your best friend, you gotta be doing something right." He grins and slaps me on the back, trying to be reassuring. "Hey, Juniper and I are going out to that small café downtown, you wanna come? Who knows, you might even meet _her _there."

I glare at him, before I realize that he was just trying to help. "I guess it couldn't hurt…"

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 32 Minutes, 45 Seconds_

"I swear Grover, if you make me miss my soulmate I will murder you," I say, now very anxious and slightly mad.

"Look, I knew there was going to be this much traffic I would've taken a left on Jist! I'm sorry okay!, don't worry though, I'll get us there on time!"

"You better, or you won't have a mouth to apologize with!"

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days, 8 Minutes, 12 Seconds_

"See I told you we'd make it!" Says Grover as he pulls in front of the Café, a place called _Java N' Jazz._

"Yeah yeah, don't act like you saved me or anything. C'mon, let's go order," I say as I open the door to his car and begin to get out.

"Hey, you finally made it!" Says a girl who I recognize as Juniper approach our car. She quickly goes over to Grover and kisses him before acknowledging me with a hug.

"Hey Tall- Wait, you only have a couple minutes until you meet your soulmate! Oh my gosh, why didn't you tell me? Come on, she might be in the café!"

She grabs my arm and tugs me into the café.

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days, 2 Minutes, 10 Seconds_

I glance around nervously, trying to look for anyone that looked life changing as I sip my coffee, the butterflies in my stomach fluttering at increasing speeds. After about a minute and a half, I realize she must not be in the café and I rush outside, determined not to miss her.

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 48 Seconds_

I don't see anyone with the exception of the stream of traffic, and my clock was still counting down.

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 32 Seconds_

Wait! There's someone crossing the street, this could be her! My heart skips a few beats…

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 18 Seconds_

She's coming into view-

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 10 Seconds_

And there she is; a short-ish cute black hair-brown eyes, eyes that are staring at me. I make my way over and I'm about to introduce myself when I hear I loud car speeding down the road.

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 3 Seconds_

I then realize that there's another girl behind her, and she took my breath away. She was without a doubt the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, tall, though shorter than me, blonde hair, stunning grey eyes that were currently busy in a book, I think it was "Pride and Prejudice". Too late I realized what was about to happen, and before I could even react-

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 1 Second_

The car hit her with a thud, throwing her off her feet and directly toward mine. She looked up at me, struggling to breathe as I heard a soft beep coming from my forearm.

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 0 Seconds_

I stare at her as I realize there's also a beep coming from her forearm, and I suddenly lose all my breath as I understand what this means. I rapidly run over to her and kneel beside her, holding her hand, and then-


	2. Chapter 2

_10 Years, 5 Months, 3 Weeks, 4 Days, 19 Minutes, 21 Seconds_

I glare at the stupid little screen on the underside of my forearm as I slump in my seat.

"Mom! Why'd you make me get this? I told you I didn't want it!" I complain.

"One day you'll thank me! You're too young to understand just how important this is," she says, once again telling me how I should be so grateful for her forcing me to get the wretched thing.

"But-"

"Listen here young lady, you are going to be happy I gave you the watch, and you are going to be glad that you have such a caring and loving mother, understand?"

"Fine." I say, giving up. I shot a dirty look at thing in my arm, old enough to understand that there was some idiot out there staring at the very same numbers.

_7 Years, 8 Months, 2 Weeks, 6 Days, 221 Minutes, 31 Seconds_

I start up the steps to my new school, some stupid place called "Eros Academy", founded by the same company that had made the stupid watch. My mother is forcing me to go here after getting kicked out of my old school, and my dad didn't put up much of a fight seeing as he abandoned my mother and I around six years ago. It's stupid how my mom could have so much faith in the watches when they failed her.

"Hey, are you new here?" says a voice from behind me. I continue walking, sure that it's not talking to me.

"Um, hello?" I feel someone tap me on the shoulder, and I realize the voice was in fact talking to me. I turn around to see a boy around my age, with brown hair and icy blue eyes. He was pretty tall, but his face was still very boyish.

"Do you need some help getting around? My name's Luke by the way."

"Um, I guess," I reply, not used to strangers approaching me. "I'm Annabeth by the way. Annabeth Chase."

"Hey Annabeth, nice to meet you!" He stuck out his hand for me to shake, and I took it. "So who's class are you in?" He asks enthusiastically.

"Umm, Mrs. Jaros," I reply, blushing a little. Why was this boy so intent on helping me?

"Really? Awesome! I'm in her class too! Although it really isn't awesome since all the fifth-graders say she's the worst." Continuing to ramble on, he grabbed my hand and started pulling me in the direction of what I could only guess was our classroom.

_5 Years, 2 Months, 1 Week, 4 Days, 379 Minutes, 57 Seconds_

"Do you think this'll work?" I ask Luke, my current best friend.

"There's only one way to find out," He says with a determined look on his face. "Let's do this. On the count of three okay? One, two, three!"

We both raised our sharpened rocks and slammed them into our watches, hoping to see them splinter and fall off. Instead, there's a sharp burst of electricity and the rocks bounce off as if some force-field surrounded the watch, and a large shock went up my arm.

"OWW" We both yell simultaneously, grabbing our arms and falling to the ground, the shock startling us as well as hurting us.

"Guess we're never trying that again," he says while groaning.

"Yeah, that definitely wasn't the best idea," I reply, smiling at our stupidity.

_3 Years, 6 Months, 2 Weeks, 3 Days, 667 Minutes, 34 Seconds_

"Today, class, we will be discussing the Aphrodite's Hour," says our soulmate teacher, Mrs. Killian. Half of the class groans, while the other half shares excited looks with their friends.

This class was the only downside to going to this school. Everything else was great, the food, the students, even most of the teachers were cool. But because the school was founded by _Eros Enterprises,_ it required all of its students to take the Soulmate class as an elective for at least one semester.

"Can anyone tell me what the Aphrodite Hour is?" asks Mrs. Killian.

"Ooh ooh I can!" yells Drew Tanaka, a descendant of the famous creator of the watches, Alexander Eros, and the resident stuck up prick of our school.

"Then go ahead , let's not have a stroke," says Mrs. Killian, looking quite startled at her enthusiasm.

"The Aphrodite Hour is the hour in which you meet your soulmate, which is why it's called the "Aphrodite" hour, as it was named after the goddess of love!" Drew says dreamily. What a twit.

"Very good Ms. Tanaka. The Aphrodite Hour is also commonly referred to as the most important hour of your life, though not all see it that way. Can anyone explain why?"

Without thinking, I raised my hand. I never do that. Mandy scoffed upon seeing me with my hand raised, myself having built quite the reputation of hating the watches.

"Ms. Chase," Before I could put my hand down, she decides to call on me. What a stroke of luck.

"Well, some people feel that they don't need to have the watch to find their soulmate, and others find love before their clock runs out, causing them to dread the moment when it actually hits zero," I explain, hoping my voice isn't too shaky.

"That is correct, Ms. Chase. Very good." As she continued on with her lesson, I glanced over at Luke, only to find him already grinning at me.

_2 Years, 7 Months, 3 Weeks, 4 Days, 11 Minutes, 29 Seconds_

"HOW ON EARTH DID THIS HAPPEN? I THOUGHT I RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THIS!" Screams my mother.

"YOU DIDN'T RAISE ME AT ALL!" I fir back, tired of my mom pretending to be a part of my life. "EVER SINCE DAD LEFT, YOU CLOSED OFF AND WERE NEVER THERE FOR ME!"

"EVEN SO, I THOUGHT YOU'D HAVE MORE SENSE IN YOU TO NOT LET THAT DISGUSTING REED BOY KISS YOU!"

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TELL ME WHAT I CAN OR CAN'T DO!"

"I'M YOUR MOTHER, I HAVE EVERY RIGHT. THE BOY ISN'T EVEN YOUR SOULMATE, YOU CAN'T BE WITH HIM!"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THESE STUPID WATCHES ANYMORE!" My mom steps back as if she's been punched. These watches have been all she's ever cared about, some crazy obsession. "These watches failed you mom, I'm not about to let the same thing happen to me too."

Mother's gaze hardened to ice, and she began to stare at me with disgust. "Get out."

"What?"

"I said get out. Get out of my house, and never come back." So this is how she behaves. Your only daughter insults a stupid watch, and you kick her out onto the streets. "I hate you," I say, surprising myself with the hate evident in my voice.

"Then leave."

So that's it. No, "I'm sorry, please, forgive me!". Nothing but resentment and disappointment. Nothing but hate.

_2 Years, 2 Months, 3 Weeks, 3 Days, 47 Minutes, 32 Seconds_

I've been living in the streets for about four months now. Eating out of dumpsters, sleeping on benches and in alleyways, anywhere that provides shelter through the harsh nights. At first I had gone to Luke, but it was clear that he wasn't about to let me into his house. Turns out he never loved me at all. Have all my relationships been fake?

"Hey, are you okay?" Says someone, a girl from what I can tell, interrupting my conversation with myself.

"Not really," I grumble. Who cares if some stupid stranger wants to make conversation with a ragged, hunger-panged fifteen year old girl?

"What's wrong? Do you need food?" I look over to the girl who was talking to me, and I see a dark-skinned, brown haired girl with hazel colored eyes that show nothing but kindness.

"Um, yeah, that would be amazing," I say tentatively, not wanting to believe that after all of this time I had found someone that actually cared.

"Come on, I know this great burger place down the street!" At the sound of burgers, my stomach let out a loud grumble.

"I'll take that as a yes then," she says, somehow managing to look humorous and worried at the same time. "I'm Piper, but my friends call me Pipes."

"Annabeth."

"What?"

"My name is Annabeth. Annabeth Chase."

"That's a very nice name. Come on," she says, motioning me to follow her. My stomach took control of my mind, and I got up and started after her, eager to see if she genuinely cared about me.

_1 Year, 3 Months, 2 Weeks, 3 Days, 542 Minutes, 39 Seconds_

"Hey Beth!" shouts Piper, her voice muffled by the door to her room. "I'm going out for awhile, can you watch Mazzie?"

"Yeah, sure," I shout back, seeing the very cat that was being spoken of waltz slowly

into my room. Yep, my room. Turns out Piper was a pretty awesome person, and her parents were super rich. As in, "I could drop a stack of hundreds and not care" rich. Long

story short, she felt pity for me, and offered to let me stay in an empty room in her penthouse as it was "getting lonely anyway". Mazzie was just our other housemate, a gray tabby with a love for belly rubs that Piper had picked up from an animal shelter. She really was one of the nicest people I know.

"Okay, see ya later!" She says as she makes her way out the door. As she leaves, I catch a glimpse of her arm, and I now realize why she had been so eager to leave tonight. She only had around two hours left. I was happy for her, and then I realized I was pretty close as well. Would I end up liking the guy that this stupid watch said I would? After all it wasn't his fault that I hated the watches so much. _I guess there's only one way to find out. Patience._

_0 Years, 2 Months, 1 Week, 1 Day, 23 Minutes, 18 Seconds_

Everyone's congratulating me and it's starting to get annoying. I mean, I still have two months people, back off! I still wasn't totally convinced about this whole soulmate thing, but after seeing Piper with her soulmate, some guy named Ford, I caught a glimpse into the happiness these things could give. Oh well, it's too late now. My mom would never take me back, and I didn't want to go back. My life here with Piper is more than enough.

_0 Years, 1 Month, 2 Weeks, 3 Days, 832 Minutes, 14 Seconds_

Piper brought me to the library today, and I checked so many books I could barely carry them to the car. One of them had especially caught my eye, a copy of the book _Pride and Prejudice_. I decided I'd save that one for last, just so I could end on something that hopefully was good. For now I'll just read my life away. Books are a great distraction from everything, especially my timer getting so close to zero. I was still struggling to decide whether or not I wanted to try to purposefully miss him, just so I could go about my life as normal. Then I realized that this guy was a person too, and me purposefully missing him would probably crush him. At least it crushed most people.

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 432 Minutes, 59 Seconds_

Today was a special day. Today was the day I would (hopefully) finish _Pride and Prejudice_. The story was very intriguing, and I could not wait until I finished it.

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 65 Minutes, 14 Seconds_

"Eve, you really need to get out of the house," says Piper, sounding genuinely concerned. "You've been in here for at least a week with your nose buried in all those books! Why don't you go take a walk, get some fresh air. Besides, you might see someone interesting out there," She says, winking.

I groan before responding. "Fine, but I'm not going out of my way to meet some guy."

"You won't have to."

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 36 Minutes, 32 Seconds_

I decided I'd walk down to a cafe that had been a place of comfort recently, especially since their mocha would be the perfect relief to this winter chill. Of course, I wasn't about to leave _Pride and Prejudice_ behind so I decided I'd just read while I walked.

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 20 Seconds_

I was getting closer and closer to the end, and I was loving every last page. This book really was amazing. I looked up just as the red light turned green, and I began to make my way across the street, raising up my book and picking up where I left off.

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 11 Seconds_

I was about halfway across the street when I heard the sound of a speeding car, but I was too immersed in my book to realize it. I was just a couple pages from the end…

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 4 Seconds_

The sound was getting extremely loud, and broke into my reading state, just in time for me to look toward the sound-

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 0 Seconds_

I was thrown off my feet and onto the ground, rolling a couple of times before I came to a stop. It was getting increasingly harder to breath, and every part of my body cried out in pain. Then, amidst all of the pain and the ringing in my ears, I heard a faint beeping sound. _Seriously? My soulmate is some guy who hit me with a car? _I then realized that there was someone holding my hand, and I looked over to see a guy with jet-black hair, brown eyes, and a worried look on his face staring at me. Then my vision fuzzed over, and I slipped into the darkness.

_0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 0 Seconds_

_Beep beep beep_

I blink a couple times before the room comes into view, my eyes attempting to adjust to the bright lights shining from the ceiling. I look around before seeing that I had an arm and a leg in a cast, and I was hooked up to several other machines as well. I quickly realized I was not alone, and the guy I had seen just before I had passed out was slumped on a chair beside my bed, snoring quietly, my hand still clutched in his.

For some reason I blushed, and I tried to remove my hand slowly without waking him up.

"Huh?" Crap. I guess I'm not that great at moving silently after all.

"You're awake!" He says, looking at me with wide eyes, a look of confusion and happiness on his face.

"Yeah, it appears I am," I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I immediately regret this when I see a look of embarrassment on his face. He quickly drops his hand, and I almost cry at the loss of warmth. "Sorry, that came out wrong. And no offense. But who are you?"

He blushed before responding. "Well, I'm pretty sure I'm your soulmate," He says, looking away.

"Oh," I say, not quite sure what to say. This was a guy I had hated for most of my life without even knowing him, but now that I'd met him, he really didn't seem so bad. He was kinda cute actually, once you got past the awkwardness.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw he was holding a book. My book. _Pride and Prejudice. _He noticed I was looking at it and he awkwardly held it out to me.

"I'd grab it, but I'm kinda… you know," I say, nodding toward the casts and bandages.

"Oh right! Sorry. How are you feeling?" He asks, once again turning bright red.

"Well I just got hit by a car, so not too bad," I say, inwardly cringing at how cold I sounded.

"That's great. Well, um, you sound like you need some rest, so I'll just… go," He says, getting up out of the chair and making his way toward the white paneled door. _I am such an idiot. _

"Wait!" He turns around just as he reaches the door. "Could you possibly, stay?"

I blush. He blushes. Maybe we really are soulmates.

"Uh, sure." He made his way back toward his seat, and he sat down. Great, now I just made things more awkward.

"So, uh, how do you like this book?" He asks.

"It's great" I say, not having to pretend at all. "Have you read it?"

"Yeah, my high-school had us read it for english. It was very enjoyable."

"Seeing as I'm currently, well, incapacitated, would you mind reading it for me? I'm almost at the end, and I really want to finish it.

"Uh, sure," he says, and he cracks open the book to the page I've dog-eared it on, and he begins to read. Something about his voice was soothing, and slowly, I began to drift off to sleep. For some reason, this boy I had just met made me feel at home, and I decided that I liked that. I decided that the watch, while still stupid, may have given me someone that I would love and be with for the rest of my life. Maybe, just maybe, this watch had given me something: a love that was timeless.


End file.
